


look what you taught me

by aizensosuke



Series: the dreamers and the lovers [10]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/F, Introspection, M/M, Pack Bonding, Pack Dynamics, Pack Feels, Scenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 02:29:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17417318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aizensosuke/pseuds/aizensosuke
Summary: rukia thinks about her place in her brother's pack and her own smaller pack.





	look what you taught me

She wonders how well her scent blends in with the winter air around her.

Sneaking out of the house against her brother’s rules to the rest of the pack is only natural for her; she waits until her four roommates are asleep and climbs out of the window, pulling herself up onto the roof so she can have a moment alone. Sometimes, she forgets how little alone time she can have when it comes to living in a group whose very basis is the idea of close community. It should not have been so easy to forget what it was like to live in a large pack, and yet her limited amount of time with just her small group spoiled her. That is not something she could ever explain to Byakuya, though.

There is, in truth, a lot she could never explain to Byakuya. How it felt so watch your brother close himself off to you when your sister lay dying. How it felt to be on the very verge of death, to be surrounded by enemies with barely enough strength to drag yourself away and just so happen to run into comfort and safety by accident more than anything.

Kuchiki Rukia has never forgotten that her life was saved because of a chance encounter.

The sound of movement to her left catches her attention and she watches as Orihime appears on the edge of the roof, pulling herself up with the same skill and grace as Rukia had. “You know you shouldn’t be out here. It’s too cold to sit outside.”

“You say that like you aren’t doing it yourself, Rukia.” Orihime flashes her a smile and then swings herself the rest of the way up, scooting back to sit at Rukia’s side. “What are you doing out here? I woke up and you were gone. I had to follow your scent to find you.”

“I’m surprised you could tell against the rest of winter.” Rukia gestures toward the ground, toward the icicles hanging from the edges of the roof, dripping down to the earth.

Orihime only smiles at her, pulling her knees up to her chest, arms slipping just beneath her thighs to hug them close. “What can I say? I’ll always be able to find you.”

She thinks she could tell Byakuya in detail what it felt like to fall in love, to wake up with the most beautiful face hovering above hers, the girl crying even though she didn’t know Rukia, didn’t even know so much as her name. How the healing left her weak but Orihime cared for her, wiping the dried blood off of her skin, washed her hair when lifting her arms seemed too difficult, told her how much she missed and patiently helped her eat even though it must have been a great burden to her.

In her dreams, Rukia still replays the first moment she saw Orihime’s wolf form, graceful, lean limbs and rich dark orange of her fur. She remembers sinking her hands into Orihime’s long fur for the first time, laughing when Orihime almost knocked her over in her haste to lick Rukia’s cheek. It was the first time Rukia was able to stand.

“Here.” Rukia lifts the edge of the fur she threw around her shoulders at the last minute. “It’s cold. Come here or you’re going to end up getting sick.”

“It’s the germs in the air, not the cold itself.” But Orihime snuggles up against her side and Rukia sighs softly, nosing into her hair, inhaling her sweet sugary cinnamon scent. It rests heavy on her tongue and soothes something deep in her soul.

Bringing Orihime back to her pack almost felt like a mistake. Bringing back Uryu, Chad, and Ichigo in general felt like she was doing something wrong, like she should endeavor to keep the two sides of her life separate from one another even though there was no logic to be had in such a decision. After all, having such a large pack to come home to meant she could have help protecting her friends, and the numbers game would always be in their favor the more alphas they have to protect them. Even though it may be foolish alpha instinct, Rukia doesn’t want anything to happen to Orihime, Uryu, or Ichigo.

Especially Orihime. She may just be biased, though.

“Why are you sitting out here? Cabin fever?” Orihime rests her head on Rukia’s shoulder, making herself just small enough that the position works.

“Something like that.” It would be too hard to explain, Rukia thinks. She might not even be able to, though she loathes at least not trying when it comes to Orihime. “It’s… Strange, being back home after all. I’m just trying to get used to it, I suppose.”

When she glances down, she finds Orihime’s eyes studying her, as if trying to discern the inner meaning of her words. “I wondered what it felt like for you to be home. It feels strange being back in a pack, myself. I think Ichigo’s the only one truly enjoying it without having any mixed feelings, but he has nothing to compare it to.”

“That’s true.” Rukia leans down, pressing a gentle kiss to Orihime’s forehead. “The rest of you came from bad backgrounds that had to do with actual packs instead of just a general bad background. It feels odd, though, to have issues at all with mine.”

“No, I understand. You told us what happened with Byakuya.” Orihime’s fingers are warm as they come to rest on her cold cheek and Rukia closes her eyes, leaning into the touch.

That she had. Telling them the truth was essential when they first met one another; she wanted them to know about her family, to know where she came from and why she was no longer there. They were perfectly honest with her about what had happened to them, how they found each other and grouped up together out of a need for contact and instinct, making something for themselves out of nothing.

Rukia nods, nuzzling into Orihime’s throat. “It feels like such a paltry complaint.”

“You only feel that way because the two of you are getting along now,” Orihime says, and Rukia thinks she might be onto something with that. “If you’d come back and he was exactly the same as he was when you left, everything would feel far worse.”

That may be true. “You have a point. I don’t know, I guess I just had to think about it.”

“Hey, what are you two doing up there?” The voice is husky and irritated, and Rukia looks down the length of the roof to see Ichigo hanging out of the window, turned to face them. “Get back inside, it’s fucking freezing. Are you two insane? You can’t fuck up there.”

“We  _ aren’t, _ ” Rukia snaps, and instinct guides her hand, scooping up a handful of snow and flinging it at his head. Without gathering it into a ball first, it scatters into a fine powder and Ichigo yelps as it showers down on his face and in his hair.

Rukia helps Orihime down first and swings herself in after, unsurprised to find everyone is awake, Chad and Uryu having blinked away at some point between the time she disappeared and the time she comes back. Silence hangs heavy in the room for a moment as Rukia shuts and locks the window, hoping that a thousand questions aren’t asked because she doesn’t truthfully think she can explain to everyone what is going on with her.

“I think,” Uryu says after a moment, his voice husky, “that we should, perhaps, pile up like we used to do in the old days before we came and joined this pack.”

Ichigo hums loudly, running a hand through his hair, trying to clear the snowflakes from it. “Yeah, that sounds good to me. I miss that a hell of a lot sometimes.”

“I think I speak for all of us when I say that as much as I like this pack and getting to meet and know new people, it still doesn’t feel like… As  _ much _ of a pack as just the five of us.” Orihime shrugs, but she’s already pulling her futon over toward the center of the room. “Maybe that’s just me. But it feels different when it’s just us.”

Chad nods once. “It does. It’s new to us, but our synergy is different.”

“We’re like a small pack incorporating into a bigger pack. Maybe it doesn’t work out as smoothly as I thought it would.” Rukia shrugs; it makes little difference to her. As long as the five of them are together, that is really all she cares about.

Uryu stretches out a hand, resting it on her shoulder gently. “I don’t think it will be a perfect fit, but it’s a better fit than any of our packs would have been. I’m grateful you brought us back here. That being said, I’ll never stop seeing you as our alpha.”

The words fall on disbelieving ears for a moment. “Ishida, I… What are you talking about?”

“We talked about that when we first got brought here and met your brother. Who’s awesome, by the way.” Ichigo drops to his knees and pushes his head up under her hand like a cat seeking attention and not at all like a werewolf… Except like a werewolf, one looking for an alpha’s attention. “We were all a thing before you came along but you felt like a leader, like everything was suddenly coherent and we weren’t just a pack of wandering werewolves without a purpose. Five is maybe too small for a pack, though.”

“It feels just right to me,” Chad says, and Ichigo shrugs his shoulders.

“I… If it felt like I pushed my way in…” It’s the last thing she wants, after all.

Orihime shakes her head. “No, it felt natural. Something I’ve noticed about the way your brother handles this pack is that it feels very natural for him to be in a position of leadership so much that I’m not surprised the pack really tightened around him.”

“Yeah,” Ichigo agrees. “Like, I couldn’t imagine this pack running as smooth if, like… Renji was running it, or that white-haired asshole. Or, like, well I guess they wouldn’t let Yoruichi run it even if she wanted to? Okay, so that old dude with the kimono.”

“Right. It’s natural. It feels like that to us, too, that you were the one who came in and became our leader. You didn’t  _ force _ us. You just. Fit.” Uryu picks up his futon, dragging it toward the center of the room. “So, if no one wants to argue, let’s pile up.”

“Hell yeah,” Ichigo says. “That feels like just the thing right now.”

When the five of them had joined this pack, they had… Split up, not in terms of bonds but in terms of physical closeness to one another. Rukia went back to her bedroom in the Kuchiki household, and Orihime came with her because there was never any doubt that Orihime was going to become her mate, her omega, and be at her side forever. Chad and Uryu took up living in one of the empty rooms available, and Ichigo bounced around depending on where he wanted to stay. They no longer shared one space.

Rukia helps them. They pile all of their futons in the center of the room, piling up all of their bedding, and then Orihime and Ichigo take over shaping the actual nest because they’ve always done it the best. They bump into each other and laugh and Ichigo blows a feather off of his nose that comes out of one of the pillows, furiously scrubbing his nose against his arm when it itches. Uryu drops his head against Chad’s shoulder even as he stretches a hand toward Rukia, and she takes it in both of hers and squeezes.

The next complete, the five of them pile in together. It isn’t neat, with an equal amount of space for each person because they have no intentions on sleeping apart. Chad lays down first and Rukia uses his shoulder as a pillow, Orihime curling up at her side. Uryu wedges himself between her and Chad, his legs tangling with hers as he rests his head on Chad’s stomach, and Rukia pets a hand down his side until he sighs softly and relaxes. And Ichigo kind of stretches across all of them to the best of his ability, face tucked into Uryu’s dark hair so the shock of orange and black is together, a beautiful contrast.

Chad folds one massive arm around both Rukia and Orihime, and this is them. This is their pack, in all of its various parts and pieces united together in one moment.

“So,” Ichigo says, resting his cheek against Uryu’s, never one to be shy when it comes to physical affection, “when are you going to mark Orihime for real?”

“In the spring,” Rukia says honestly. “It’s the season of hope and renewal and I want to wait until then. Spring was also the season we all met in, if you remember.”

Uryu’s smile is soft. “I remember that. That’s a good choice, if you ask me.”

“What about the white-haired alpha who’s been bothering you lately?” Chad asks, giving Ichigo’s hair a playful ruffle. “What do you think about him, honestly?”

Ichigo scoffs. “Hitsugaya? He’s a fucking dipshit. He’s such a bad flirt and he’s so stuck-up but he’s kinda cute, so maybe I’ll give him an honest chance to be smart about this and not keep talking like a smooth pick-up line is going to be enough for me.”

“Very smart,” Rukia praises him, and he beams at her. “Toshiro is… He’s cocky and difficult even on good days, but I think if you challenged him to open up, he just might do it.”

“Of course he will,” Orihime says. “Ichigo’s always been good at getting people to break out of their shells, and he’s never let anyone walk over him before. So if this alpha wants to honestly win him over, he’s going to have to be honest with him.”

Rukia tightens her arm around Orihime’s waist, hugging her omega closer to her side so she can plant a brief, sweet kiss on her lips. “Well said, Hime.”

“That reminds me. Oh man, I gotta tell you this.” Ichigo’s hand flails at her shoulder a moment and Rukia laughs at him, giving him her attention. “Uryu and I went to go be messengers for Aizen’s pack because we’re like, harmless? I guess. And that set-up was insane. They live underground in a cave, and it was so wildly pretty down there.”

Uryu hums in agreement, catching Ichigo’s hand, playfully biting down on his arm. Not enough to hurt, just enough to make Ichigo growl and bite his shoulder. “This may seem odd to say, but they reminded me of us. Just a bunch of strays who were becoming a family. There were obvious rough spots in the way they spoke to each other that I noticed, but the vibe was there. I found that very interesting.”

“If talking about him is gonna be a problem—” Ichigo says, eyes darting to Rukia’s.

She shakes her head. “No, it’s not. Aizen’s pack… Had every right to do what they did, and it was my fault for wandering into their territory. Members of our pack would do a similar thing to keep everyone else safe. Besides, I’d want to know as much about the enemy as possible so we can be braced should they ever decide to attack.”

“Hopefully they keep to the promise they made to Taicho about not wanting to fight us or even have contact with us,” Orihime says, and Rukia hums in agreement because she would honestly be thrilled to never have to see any of them again. “But if they don’t, I suppose we can fight them. The five of us are a unit. We can take on anything together.”

“And win,” Chad adds, and Rukia smiles and nods because yes, they can.

The hour must have grown late, because the room lapses into quiet, but the silence is comforting in more ways than one. Rukia holds Orihime against her side, lips brushing against her forehead, smiling when Orihime sighs softly. Her arms slide around Rukia’s waist, her lips brushing against Rukia’s throat before a soft, sweet little purring noise leaves her throat. Between Orihime and Ichigo alone, the room smells like very happy omega, cinnamon and strawberries. Uryu’s scent is understated in comparison, but the sharp citrus scent is one Rukia knows well, and he smells just as happy, too.

If they had never come back to the Kuchiki pack and remained on their own, a nomadic pack of only five members, Rukia would have been glad to serve as their alpha. She would like to think she has a knack for it if they were so happy to choose her instead of her coming in and taking the position. After all, Chad has been with them longer than she has, and yet even he seemed pretty firm in the idea of her being their leader.

She owes it to them to make sure all of them are happy here, are safe and cared for.

Her fingers tangle softly in Orihime’s hair and she closes her eyes, letting fatigue creep into her limbs even as the duality of scents in the room tell her that everyone here is happy and safe. If she is their alpha after all, then she can at least rest easy knowing she’s done a good job at taking care of all of them.

When morning comes, Rukia will make sure her pack eats, is well-fed and warm and safe, and let herself plan just in case Aizen’s pack does decide to make an appearance.

Better safe than sorry.

And she’d kill anyone who tries to take her pack away from her, anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> happy birthday rukia~ i love you to pieces. having a badass girl who loves cute stuffed animals and can't draw for shit and yet is the very foundation of strength in this series is absolutely amazing.


End file.
